MODE OF CULTIVATION. The land should be plowed very deep, well divided, clean, and free of roots, new manure, and all decayed organic substances. The general mode of planting is to drill in rows two feet apart, and to drop one seed every six inches, in order to secure one plant to every foot in the line; this will require 43,560 seeds; one pound of seeds contains from 20,000 to 25,000 grains; therefore 2 pounds will plant one acre. In clay lands, the seed ought to be deposited on the top of the ridge; in sandy soils, at the bottom of the furrow, or on a leveled surface; atmospherical circumstances will regulate the depth of the planting, one inch in dry weather, shallow when rain is imminent. When the young plant has put forth four leaves, the land must be thoroughly cultivated with hoe and shovel plow; then intermediate plants are used to fill the empty spaces, the remainder may be transplanted, sold or destroyed; the process of hoeing and cultivating must be repeated, until the beets are able to outgrow foul weeds: this prepares the ground for the ensuing crop, which in a rational rotation ought to be wheat. No further attention is required until harvest. Beets are ripe when the external leaves grow yellow, drop and decay; they must then be dug out with shovel or plow, and left on the ground; the leaves must be cut off with a knife or a shovel, and they may be fed to cattle, hogs and sheep. Three or four days after, the beets ought to be stored into cellars or placed into heaps and covered with earth, like potatoes; in these conditions, beets can be kept until March or April; however, they should be disposed of as early as possible, because by the length of time the quality of sugar may be impaired, and its quantity diminished. MANUFACTURING PROCESS. Beet sugar is made in the same manner as cane or maple sugar. All successive improvements were made on utensils, machinery and chemical reactions; as, for instance, Achard improved on Margraff by saturating with sulphuric acid the excess of lime which is used for defecation; Howard invented the vacuum pan, to evaporate the juice with economy, safety and dispatch; the hydraulic press was substituted for the inferior screw press; steam took the place of hand labor; but the original principle of the whole operation is still followed, and may be summed up in three words, viz.: "extract, "clarify" and " concentrate" the juice of the sacchariferous plant. EXTRACTING THE JUICE. This operation requires three implements: 1st. A "washing machine," to cleanse the roots; it is a cylinder, made with lath, one inch apart, and revolving within a box which is filled with water. 2d. A "grater" to grind the beets this is another cylinder, the surface of which is half covered with saw blades. 3d. A "press" to force the juice out of the pulp. With these instruments, and a motive power, three men can extract the juice from 10,000 pounds of beets in twelve hours. The pulp, coming out of the press, may be fed to cattle, either fresh or fermented; 256 pounds of red beet pulp equal 100 pounds of dry hay, according to Boussingault. CLARIFYING THE JUICE. This comprises the important operations of defecating and filtering; it requires two implements, a kettle and a filter; the latter may be a barrel or a box. The juice, running out of the press, is directed into the kettle; fire is kindled ; when the liquid is at the temperature of 160° Fah. lime is applied, in the propor tion of one quart to 100 quarts of juice; the lime may be dry or diluted; when the liquid reaches the boiling point, the fire must be removed; some time is allowed for the scum to rise, and for the sediment to settle; these being carefully separated, the liquid is poured into the filter, which must contain about 3 per cent. of fresh amimal charcoal at each operation, or 10 per cent. for three operations. Coarse animal charcoal is always used for filtering the "juice;" fine charcoal is used for "syrups ;" The former is worth 3 cents, the latter 7 cents per pound⚫ Exhausted animal charcoal has absorbed all the salts and nitrogenous substances which were contained in the juice; its principal element is phosphate of line, precisely the same element that our lands want the most. A liberal supply of this article, which is always abundant in sugar factories, will so much favor a wheat crop, that a return of thirty to forty bushels of grain may safely be expected; that is what England obtains by improving her lands with the bones of her dead soldiers. CONCENTRATING THE JUICE. Slow, protracted boiling changes sugar into molasses; therefore juice and syrup should be evaporated as rapidly as possible; this effect is produced at the low temperatures of 140° to 155°, consequently with economy of fuel, by means of vacuum pans. Open, shallow evaporating pans, over a brisk, regulated fire, may be used with advantage in small factories. Deep, cast iron kettles are good enough for defecation, but they are entirely worthless for concentrating syrups. When the juice is reduced to the density of 250 Beaumé's saccharometer, it must again be filtered; but the filtering will not be good unless the animal charcoal be of fine grain. The syrup is then replaced upon a brisk fire, in order to undergo rapid concentration, down to 45° B. The concentrated syrup is allowed to cool, then it is placed into a warm room, where it soon crystallizes; the molasses are drained off, the crystals are left to become dry, and sugar is made. PRODUCTION AND COST OF BEETS. According to French statistics, one hectare (2.40 acres) yields an average of 50,000 kilos of beet roots; that is, 110,000 lbs. to the hectare, and 45,000 lbs., or 22 tuns to the acre. Two distinguished agriculturists-Mr. Kachlin, at Mulhouse, and Gasparin, in the South of France-are recorded as obtaining very heavy crops; the former at the rate of 150,000 kilos, or 67 tuns to the acre i the latter 275,000 kilos, or 110 tuns to the acre. A reference to the Report of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, 1859, pp. 500 to 506, will show that our lands are capable of producing 35 tuns to the acre. We heard also of another crop which rated 65 tuns to the acre; but we cannot expect such returns, and we will admit the French average of 221 tuns as probable. The cost of 2,000 lbs. of beets is generally counted at 6 francs, or $1.15. French farmers sell and earry 2,000 lbs. of beets for 21 francs, or $400; they are then obliged to take back the pulp for 9 francs, $1.75. Deducting the cost of two transportations, they obtain about $1.50 for a tun of beets; that is, 35 cents net profit on one tun, or $8.87 per acre. This profit is increased by the value of the leaves and of the pulp, which are turned into milk, flesh and manure. The process, labor and time of cultivation are almost the same as for raising a crop of corn. Our lands are cheaper and more fertile than those in Europe; seed can be procured at 25 cents per pound, and will amount to less than $1.00 per acre; we may therefore expcct to produce the beet at about the same price as in France. We may liberally estimate the expenses for seed and cultivation at $20 an acre, and calculate upon the moderate return of 20 tuns; then we could raise a tun for one dollar. The Ohio State Board of Agriculture received a letter dated Berlin (Prussia), December, 1861, from the Royal Society of Acclimatization, which contains the following statistics : "The Zollverein Association hold 257 beet sugar factories, which, in the year 1859, manufactured 36,668,556 cwt. of beet roots. The tax being 5 silbergrossen (16 cents) per cwt, produced 9,000,000 of gulden (40 cents). The quantity of sugar made from the beets was 2,933,484 cwt., or 8 per cent. "The following shows how different professions profit from a factory working 10,000,000 cwt. of beets: The chemical composition of sugar, according to Berzelius, is The constituent elements of sugar are derived from the atmosphere. The leaves and pulp of the beet return to the land; sugar only being exported. Therefore, the beet sugar industry takes absolutely nothing from the land. On the contrary, the beet actually bestows on the soil new and precious elements; the scum and sediment of defecation return the salts, gum, oil and gluten which were derived from the soil, and at the same time a quantity of lime which was not there, and will benefit future crops. We have already said that large quantities of phosphate of lime are introduced in the shape of exhausted animal charcoal; we might speak of other chemical agents, which are used for clarifications (such as acids, blood and eggs), and bring new elements of fertility, but we will confine the argument to the beet itself. The pulp coming out of the press weighs about one-third of the original mass; one acre gives seven tuns, 14,000 lbs. of pulp, which is an excellent food for cattle. At the rate of 70 lbs. per day, one acre will feed an ox during 200 days, without cost. The pulp might be kept to last several months, but it is more convenient and profitable to dispose of it as soon as possible; hence the advantage of keeping an adequate number of cattle. A single press, working night and day, as usual, gives 7000 lbs. of pulp in 24 hours, and will feed 100 head of cattle; French factories are generally supplied with six presses, and feed 600 head. The number of factories being 380, it follows that the beet creates a demand for 228,000 head of cattle every year. WHEN PREPARING FOR MARKET. These animals receive an allowance of bran, meal, oil cake, straw and bedding, and they produce large quantities of manure. To work and transport masses of beets, sugar, food, fuel and manure, a great number of men and horses congregate, and supply their quota of fertilization; furnaces add their contingent of ashes; so that the land is brought to a point of exuberant productiveness by the constant influx of foreign elements. Should there be no rotation of crops; should the beet be permitted to profit by the fertility which it causes, the average yield of the beet crop would be much higher, as in the above case of Kachlin and Gasparin. Four or five exhausting crops of wheat, linseed, poppy, barley, and rape seed are allowed to impoverish the soil, before the beet is called upon to impart to it a new vigor. The beet sugar industry in France is concentrated within three or four counties, which now surpass all others in wealth, fertility and population. PRODUCTION AND PRICE OF SUGAR. We extract the following statistics from the "Journal d'Agriculture," Paris, 1861: During the year 1859, thirty-two sugar factories did not produce any sugar, because they found it profitable to make alcohol out of beets. The other 349 factories sold 283,903,200 pounds of sugar, and 150,000,000 pounds of molasses. The average price, including storage, freight and commission, was 64 cents per pound brown, 114 cents refined sugar. To form an estimate of the probable cost of beet sugar in Ohio, we must not overlook the high price of labor in our country; on the other hand, we have cheap lands, fuel, and superior machinery; the cost of the beets has already been estimated at one dollar the tun, and we are told that three men can turn out 10,000 pounds in one day; we may, therefore, establish the following account for one day: DR. Cost of 10,000 pounds beets, five tuns at one dollar... $5.00 3.00 Supposing only 3 per cent of sugar and 4 of molasses to be extracted: 350 pounds sugar at four cents per pound..... $14 00 The foregoing account was purposely exaggerated as to the diminutive per centage of sugar and the proportion of molasses; European factories extract from |